For Photographers

Kristell

It is my policy to take a camera and take a few images when I meet with a potential client. So I had my Nikon D3s and the 70-200 f/2.8 VRII when Kristell and I met at a Starbucks on Peachtree Road here in Atlanta. She is getting married in the fall of this year and we had spoken on the phone a few times and traded emails. She is a beautiful and delightful young lady; intelligent, very focused and has a fabulous mind. I predict she will be successful in any endeavor she pursues. In short, I liked her a lot.

Kristell is shopping for a wedding photographer and, of course, it would be a real honor if she selects our studio to document her big day. Enough narrative, here are a few quick snaps I took at the end of our meeting.

Nimberwill Creek Family Portraits

I met Chris and his family the day after Christmas for a family portrait session. They have a great piece of property on Nimberwill Creek that includes a great little waterfall. Just gorgeous. Chris built an eight flight staircase down to the bank of the creek that had me huffing and puffing on the way back up; I have got to do a lot more physical training in 2010.

Really enjoyed meeting Chris and his clan, super nice folks and we got some nice family shots. Here are a few of those images.

 

Family Portraits at Amicalola

Ceara and her family posed for some family portraits the day after Christmas at Amicalola Falls. It was a windy, chilly day and the temperature dropped and the winds increased as we progressed up to the top of the falls.

Ceara is a law student and her sister Diedre is about to complete her doctorate, two very accomplished young women and I know her parents could not be prouder of their daughters. It was a real pleasure to spend the afternoon with this very nice family. Here are a few images from our session.

Jason and Heather in Piedmont Park

I love shooting in Piedmont Park, it's such a magical place for photography. I have had some great shoots there. Speaking of great shoots, this was definitely a great shoot; and a great shoot never suffers from a couple as attractive as Jason and Heather, especially when they are so comfortable with the working end of a camera.

Jason, Heather and I met at the Park Tavern, adjacent to Piedmont Park, and enjoyed some refreshments while sitting in the very nice air conditioning; ahhh! When we stepped outside we were reacquainted with a typical late summer day in the south, hot, humid and did I mention hot?

We walked to my favorite magnolia tree and took some head shots of Jason. Then we wandered over to the beautiful stone bridge that spans the small lake in the park; paused for some nice shots at the gazebo and the beautiful wrought iron foot bridge, meandered to the far end of the bridge, played on the swings in the playground, shot some nice shots amongst a bed of black-eyed susan flowers, snapped a few at a nice ivy wall, then a huge oak and finally got some killer shots of the Atlanta skyline with Jason and Heather perched atop a beautiful rock wall. Whew, when we were done I had taken more than a thousand images.

Incredible session, and one of my all time favorite shoots. There was a fantastic energy level throughout our time together and we liked and joked and had a blast in the sweltering heat. I can't wait to get Jason and Heather's reactions to the images once I post the complete session on their PickPic gallery.

I am posting a few shots of the day, still post processing their shots and several other shoots this weekend, getting everything proof ready, as always, the best is yet to come.

One Hundred Percent Boys

I live out in the country and I have been blessed with some good neighbors; not least of which are Pete and Sherry. We've known them for more years than I care to admit and have watched their children grow to adulthood. Their two grandsons were visiting from Mississippi and they were all picking blueberries from some blueberry bushes on my property; bushes that Pete planted many years ago.

The boys were being, well, boys. They were rough housing and playing in and among the blueberry bushes. I was wandering around with my Nikon D3 with a 300mm f/2.8 VR attached trying to capture a Bluebird couple that were caring for a second brood of the season in a bird house on that area of the property.

Having the camera and long lens proved fortuitous; it's not often you can shoot kids really playing; a good candid is only achieved when the subjects are unaware of the camera. This shot was from the end of me shooting the boys playing at the moment when they became aware of me and the camera.

Watching the boys roll around in the tall grass was a joy and it took me back to those magical summers when I was a boy. Children are truly our most precious resource, that has been said many times before by men and women of much greater import than myself. As I now view this image, a soft voice echoes a single word in head, "fun."

Strange thing about being a child is your impatience to grow up. The not so strange thing about being an adult, particularly when you reach middle age, is the desire to return to those carefree summer evenings when you had no real responsibility; when the only limitation to the amount of fun you could experience was your boundless imagination. Unfortunately, youth truly is wasted on the young, but the reality is that children make the most of their youth via pure instinct. Having perspective is a wonderful thing, and rare is the child that sees with clarity the value of their current location on the continuum of their own life. These young guys seem to have a good grasp; so, enjoy these days boys, they fade too soon.